Think about the last time you moved to a new apartment or home – you probably did not do it alone. After all, it is nearly impossible for one person to move a sofa or bed solo. Like many things in life, moving is simply much easier and faster with the help of a well-organized team, be it friends, family or professional movers.

Nevertheless, not all teams are equal in their productivity and effectiveness. Some teams are excited to be working together and appear to be having fun doing the work, while others are dysfunctional or seem doomed for failure. Successful teams, if you take a closer look, all have leaders who invoke the same five basic steps.

1. They set clear goals and objectives. When moving, the goals and objectives are clear – you need to move furniture and belongings from point A to point B. In business settings, however, the goals and objectives are not always as straightforward. The most effective team leaders involve teammates in the goal-setting process so everyone has shared expectations around what they are trying to achieve, and they do this before ever assigning projects or tasks. Effective teams know goals help ensure everyone is focused on the right activities at the right time – without them, everyone runs the risk of wasting time and energy.

2. They make sure the team has clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Good leaders know that role confusion can lead to frustration. Most people want to understand how they will contribute to reaching the goal and what they will be accountable for doing. Whenever possible, assign tasks to people based on their strengths or desire to learn new things or develop new skills.

3. They regroup regularly to monitor progress and results. Leaders have predefined critical milestones so they know if they are on track or falling behind. If they find they are falling behind or stuck on a task, effective team leaders, and strong team members, ask for help so they can make adjustments in time to achieve the goal. In monitoring the progress, it is also important not to blame anyone if things go wrong, but instead focus what can be done immediately to achieve the goal.

4. They design feedback loops into the work. Consider this classic example of the feedback loop: A company has a wonderful culture and offers terrific benefits, which leads to positive reviews on Glassdoor, which further leads to a bigger pool of qualified candidates and more good hires. The smart team looks for opportunities to create positive feedback loops. An effective business development team gets good at defining its ideal customer, which leads to an increase in sales, which then leads to an even better understanding of what customers are looking for from its product and services. For more on this topic, check out this article in Smashing Magazine.

5. They leverage technology for all of the above steps. Team leaders understand that effective leadership means keeping people informed and taking a democratic approach to sharing information. Solutions such as online collaboration software Smartsheet enable this. With Smartsheet, leaders can outline goals, tactics, and milestones and, because it is cloud-based, teammates can access this productivity tool from their PCs, tablets and cellphones. They can also set up dependencies for key projects with alerts. And it is easy to design reports and surveys to quickly identify and optimize positive feedback loops.

Productive teams are vital to getting things done, and you can vastly improve you team’s productivity – and happiness – by taking these five steps. Helen Keller stated it well when she said, “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

For more information on our use and work with Smartsheet, please check out these articles:

• Smartsheet Secures Another $35 Million
• Building Homes with Smartsheet
• Smartsheet Goes on the Road
• Smartsheet Announces $26 Million in Venture Funding